


It's A Twin Thing

by Jadiona



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/F, F/M, Family, Fantasy, Friendship, M/M, Multi, Romance, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-17 07:38:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16970490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jadiona/pseuds/Jadiona
Summary: Set in an Alternate Universe, Bella and Beau are twins of the mind. They both move to Ithaca to go to college and start their lives together, even as they look for that third person who will fulfill their every need and desire.





	1. Prelude

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer and I do not own the rights to the Twilight Saga, Life and Death, or any of the accouterments in the series.
> 
> AN: While the core characters are based on the Twilight Saga (and a little Life and Death), there's a lot of fudgery. That fudgery is all mine. This scene is set in August of 2006. For the purposes of this story, the Cullens (Edward's family) never moved to Forks but moved to Ithaca instead. They are still vampires.
> 
> Warning: The rating is not for safety.

It's A Twin Thing

**Prelude**  
_Bella_ ****  


My name is Isabella Marie Dwyer and I was born almost nineteen years ago to Renee Valerie Sylvan and her husband, Phil Dwyer. To really tell my tale we have to go back to before I was born. My mother, Renee, had a best friend growing up. Her best friend was named Marie Marjorie Higginbotham and they did everything together. They lost their virginity to the same boy on the same night, before that, they even got their very first periods on the same day. They were siblings in all but blood.

At least, that was the case until they graduated from high school in San Francisco. It was only then that they separated. Marie went north to a small town called Forks, WA. My own mother went southward to Phoenix, AZ. Unbeknownst to them, they both met a guy on the exact same night. Marie met a young deputy by the name of Charlie Swan, while my mother, of course, met the rapidly up and coming baseball star, Phil Dwyer.

Three months, to the day, after they both met their respective men, they both got pregnant. Exactly two months after that, they both got married.

Seven months later, separated by half the country, they both went into labor at the same moment, and then, thirteen hours later, on September 13th, 1987, they both gave birth. The major difference was that my mother survived the pregnancy. Marie, did not. My mother helped Marie's husband over the months that followed, and in the summer after we'd been born. Beaufort Geoffrey Swan came out and spent a month with me. As he did every summer after that.

If Marie and Renee were sisters in all but blood, then Beau and I were twins. In fact, we shared such a profound relationship that we could actually communicate telepathically. We not only did everything together, we shared everything. So the summer after our twelfth year, we shared our first kiss. The summer after our fourteenth year, we were each others firsts. And then the summer after our fifteenth, we shared one wonderful weekend with a college student a few years older than us by the name of Edythe Antonia Mason.

Unfortunately, my sixteenth birthday was when everything changed. My parents, Renee and Phil, were killed in a car wreck, and with no living relatives to take me in, I was put in foster care. I haven't seen my twin since then.

This is my story.

...

I closed my eyes, just one more hour and I'd finally be with Beau again. We were both going to Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. It had been more than three years since the last time I had seen my twin. In spite of the physical separation we'd been forced into, we'd kept in contact.

In fact, even now I could feel Beau's excitement in the back of my mind as I neared the destination of Ithaca Airport. He had arrived two hours earlier than me and was now impatiently awaiting my arrival.

Ideally, we would have arrived at the same time, but at an airport with only one terminal... we did what we could. I closed my eyes, murmuring in my head,  _Soon._

 _Not soon enough,_ came back to me. He had his eyes open and was watching the door for arriving passengers as if his will alone would make me get there any faster.

It was a new talent that we had, the ability to see through each others' eyes, only starting after we'd been forced into the long three year separation. Not that it was the first time our telepathy had evolved. As young kids, we'd only been able to share words, phrases, maybe the occasional image, but as we aged we were able to share sensations with each other like touch, smell, and sound. And later we were able to sense each others emotions, at first it was forced and then later it just started being a constant line of communication.

To an outsider, the constant give and take we had would probably look strange, but what could we say? It was a twin thing.

The smell of fresh french fries invaded my mind.

 _Asshole_ , I muttered mentally.

I could hear his chuckle in my mind as well as sense his humor.

I mentally flipped him the bird, his humor grew.

I smiled.

Fifty-five long minutes later, Beau torturing me by eating the entire time, I finally landed. Another twenty minutes later and I was finally entering the building. Beau was right there, waiting for me on the other side of the door.

His right hand laced in my hair, his lips met mine. I open my mouth as our lips dueled for the twin dominance that we shared, his tongue met mine. He shoved an image in my head of me pushed up against a wall as he entered me again and again, his teeth grazing my throat dangerously. I reached up, ensnaring his curly brown locks in my fingers.

Our lips separated for a moment as we both caught our breath.

"Later," I murmured aloud.

 _Yes, later._ He echoed in my head. His lips met mine again

Another image popped into my head, me laid out on a bed – more specifically, our bed – my legs spread on his shoulders, crossed at the ankles behind his back, his mouth at my core, his tongue licking me in a positively salacious way.

I let out a soft groan. He pulled back, grinning.

"Let's get home."

Yes, home, our home. It was a small house on the outskirts of Ithaca that I'd bought using money from the exceptionally large trust that was left to me when my parents died. Between my own eight year career as as a ballerina, the money from Phil's baseball career, and both of my parents' life insurance, I was technically an extremely rich eighteen year old – as in an eight figure balance.

Not many people would buy a house, site unseen, but even though I'd never seen it in person, Beau had, which meant I'd seen it to. He'd come up with his dad last winter to check out the school. While he was here, he'd also looked at houses in the area. I'd bought the place immediately.

We got our luggage and headed outside where a limo was waiting in the parking lot with the driver standing at the side of it, a sign in his hand that read:  **Beau and Bella**.

Beau arched an eyebrow at me. "When did you do this."

"This morning before I got on the plane."

He shook his head, grinning like a fool.

"Come on," I said. We walked to the limo.

"You must be Bella and Beau," the driver said, his accent even more heavily Frenchy in person than it had been on the phone that morning.

"Yes, and your Earnest Platter, correct?"

"Oui. Let me get your bags." He opened the trunk and quickly piled them in, before stepping to the passenger door and opening it grandly.

Beau got in first and I followed, Earnest placing his hand out so I could use it for balance, like the drivers in old time movies did. He bent down and kissed the top of my hand as I took his, winking as he stood straight again.

I raised both of my eyebrows at Beau as I got into the limo, sending him a mentally image of him entering my ass as Earnest fucked my pussy. He chuckled as he shook his head, sending an image back of Earnest with the word  _prude_  flashing on his forehead.

I giggled, sitting next to Beau and leaning my head on his shoulder, throwing my legs over his. The driver shut our door without a word.

"Do you think we'll find someone? That completes us both?" I murmured into his neck, repeating the words in my head to him.

His hand brushed down my hair. Sending me a memory of him fucking Jacob Black as he fucked his girlfriend, Julie Young. They were something like fourth cousins once removed, and a year younger that Beau and I. They both went to school in La Push, WA, and I'd never met either of them. Yet, I felt like I knew them. After all, I'd given Beau my blessing to have a relationship with them while we were separated by fifteen hundred miles for three solid years.

"I was able to find them and was with them for almost a full two years. I'm sure we'll find someone that wants us both."

Beau and I were two halves of a whole, twins in every way that mattered, and it often felt as if our hearts beat as one. It was why we needed a third. We were definitely a couple, in love in a way that could only be described as unbreakable, but we both needed someone that was opposite to us, someone who would challenge and raise us to new heights. For us, it wasn't like we were soul mates. It was like we shared one soul. And so we wanted to find the mate to ours.

"Do you think your Jacob and Julie would have liked me?" I murmured.

"Jacob would have loved you with your heart-shaped face, chocolate locks and heart-breaker blue eyes. I don't know about Julie though... she probably would have been jealous that he found another girl attractive. Besides..." he trailed off, continuing in my head,  _four's a crowd._

I smiled, kissing his throat. His breath hitched.

The limo pulled to a stop.

"We're home," I said. I pulled away from Beau just as the passenger door opened.

Earnest put his hand out again and I took it again, stepping out of the limo, Beau following me out. We walked up to the house, and I stepped up to the door where the key lock box was. I put in the four digit code, opening the box that exposed the keys to get in the house.

I could hear Earnest setting our luggage on the porch, and turned, reaching in my back pocket and pulling out my wallet. I pulled out two hundred dollar bills, handing them to him when he was done.

I heard Beau using the keys in the lock box and opening the door behind me.

"Thank you for your excellent service."

Earnest tipped an imaginary hat, winking, then he headed back to his limo, driving away a moment later.

We moved the luggage in the house. My two suitcases that contained all the physical possessions I still owned – everything from my parents house having been sold and the money put into the trust after they died – and the three suitcases that Beau had brought. I'd convinced him to have the rest of the stuff that he owned at his dad's place shipped – including the 1953 pickup that he loved so much.

He'd been reluctant, not wanting me to spend my money on him like that, but I'd convinced him.

We'd barely pulled his last suitcase in and shut and locked the door before his hands were on my shirt, pulling it up over my head. In no time at all, we were both stripped bare to the world and he was shoving me against the nearest wall.

This wasn't a seduction, it was desire, deadly and promising in every sense. His teeth sunk into the sensitive column of my throat as he entered me, sucking a small section of my skin in his mouth and sucking hard, fulfilling one of the two images he'd shown me in my head. His hands locked with mine, pushing them against the wall, keeping me in place and inserting the dominance that he knew I loved.

Too soon, my body shuddered with release under the tumult of emotions and passion brought on by our first union in over three years. He followed soon after, leaving us both weak kneed even as our desire sent us to the bedroom in the house, stepping over to the bed with the sheets and cover, a deep crimson made of satin, that had been placed down by a maid service I'd requested come in and get the house ready for our arrival a mere three days ago.

I pushed him to sit on the bed, encouraging him to rise to the occasion with teasing nails and temptuous visions in his mind. I knelt on my knees between his legs, deep throating him as I looked up at him. His hand latched into my hair. He fucked my mouth, pushing his hips up again and again, reminding me that his high school years had been well spent. It was why he was going to Cornell, of course. He got a full ride scholarship to play Sprint Football on their team.

We were both thankful that he hadn't been gifted with his dad's ability to trip over a flat surface.

He came down my throat before pulling me up and shoving me onto the bed, spreading my legs wide and fulfilling the second vision he'd shoved into my mind earlier.

The day turned to night and we slept, waking each other several times to continue fulfilling our desire throughout the night.

The next morning came far too soon for my liking as I wanted to spend the rest of the day cocooned in the house with Beau and forget the world. Sadly, that wasn't how today was going to work. It was orientation day.

"We could just stay here," I murmured, knowing he wouldn't go for it, but trying it anyways.

"You can. You're paying to go to this school. If you've forgotten, I'm here on a scholarship. I don't get that luxury."

I sighed. "Fine."

I pouted as we started to get dressed.

"You shouldn't put that lip out there like that unless you want me to bite it," he muttered.

I bit it myself instead, glancing up at him from beneath my lashes as I did so.

He laughed.

I opted against wearing a bra, pulling on a deep navy v-neck that left little imagination of my fit figure, pulling on form fitting black jeans as well. The shirt had the added bonus of showing off the hickey I was sporting. I was proud of it.

When I was finished getting dressed, I looked at Beau, who was dressed in a very similar fashion, wearing a navy tee and black jeans. His only difference was a scarf that he'd wrapped around his neck. He and I looked at each other for a moment, staring at our similar choices for a couple seconds too long before we both shrugged.

"It's a –" he started.

"– twin thing," I finished with no noticeable pause between his start and my finish.

We burst into laughter. Finally, after eating a breakfast of scrambled eggs and orange juice, we headed outside to meet the day and go to orientation.

"We could call a cab," Beau said.

"It's only two miles, let's walk." I spun so I was facing him, grabbing his scarf and using it as a leash as I walked backwards on my toes off of the porch.

He chuckled, following me. We were both in high spirits, even though we did have to leave our house.

The two mile walk had several pauses, as Beau found random excuses to pull me against one building or another and kiss me. I understood his passion, his want, well. Even though we'd probably been in love with each other since we were little, our relationship still hadn't been considered  _appropriate_  the last time we'd been together. Both of us considered too young to know what we truly wanted.

But we'd both been born middle-aged. We knew exactly who and what we wanted.

Now, it was finally acceptable. There were no parents here to judge us, no censure to be found. On top of that, we were now both legal adults and starting our life together.

It took us a good hour and a half to reach campus, in spite of it being a measly two miles. Mostly because of all the stops we made. As we got to campus, Beau pulled me to another stop.

"Wait, Bella..." He paused, I was surprised by the genuine hesitation that I felt coming off him in my mind. "Before we go any farther, I want to do this now. I need to do it. Isabella Marie Dwyer, we've known each other our whole lives and whether we someday find that extra person we both want in our lives or not, you are the person that I truly need."

I knew what he was doing now, I couldn't catch my breath.

"You're the one that makes the world go round, the one that makes my heart beat faster, the other half of my soul. You are my twin. My heart." He slid gracefully to one knee, pulling a ring out of his pocket as he did so. "Will you marry me, Bella?"

I couldn't remember how to say the affirming word to him even in my mind. I nodded, holding out my hand. He slid the ring onto my finger. It was a small rose gold band with a single solitaire diamond on it. I couldn't take my eyes from it. Beau stood back up, kissing me again, deepening it when I started to kiss him back.

This kiss felt different to me, more all consuming then all our previous ones.

When he pulled back, he looked at the ring on my hand. "I know it's small, but it was the ring Charlie gave my mom. It's... important. But –"

I put my finger over his lips as I thought,  _I love it._ "Now come on, we need to get to orientation."

We walked to where everything was starting to take place and ended up put in different groups for the orientation. He and I went opposite directions as we were given the guided tour of the university.

His mental snarks in my head kept me entertained throughout the morning as the aide leading my tour blathered on about this building and that. At one point, one of the people in my tour group, a short, pixie-like woman with extremely spiky hair and pale skin spoke to me.

"Are you engaged?" She nodded to my hand.

"Yes, just recently." I smiled, grateful that someone was being friendly. "I'm Bella, you?" I put my hand out for her.

"I'm Alice." She took my hand – her skin was exceedingly cold – her eyes glazing over as she did so. She released me a moment later. "Sorry, I know it's cold, bad circulation. I think we're going to be great friends, Bella," she said as she blinked. "What's the lucky man's name?"

"Beau. It's exceedingly fitting because he is my beau."

"You sound smitten."

The word threw me, it just wasn't a word you heard in common conversation.

"In love, I mean." She laughed lightly. "I was raised by my grandparents as a young kid. I think they're language is still with me after all these years."

I smiled again, her laugh was bubbly, making me happy too. "That's because I am. He's my whole world."

"That's great. You're lucky. So few of us at this age find the love of our life." In spite of her words being genial, there seemed to be the slightest false note to them.

I assumed I was imagining things. "Have you met yours already?"

"I have, his name is Jasper. He's the most handsome man on earth, I swear. He's around here somewhere with one of the other groups. I'm not sure which. Technically, he should be a sophomore already, but he took last year off, deciding to wait on me to graduate from high school so we could go through college together. Maybe he's with your Beau's group, who knows."

"Maybe he is," I murmured, deciding to look through Beau's eyes and see what he was seeing.

" _Is there any reason you keep sidling closer to me?" Beau asked, looking at a man a couple inches taller than himself. The man was soft on the eyes with brilliant gold colored eyes and honey blonde hair._

_"I apologize, I'm being rude. It's just you seem so happy, I'd rather be near that environment than the the tension and anxiety that everyone else is practically vibrating with." His voice was a soft and muted velvet._

" _Huh..."_ I could tell Beau wasn't quite sure what to make of the words, his own emotions slightly confused.  _He shrugged. "It's no big deal. My name's Beau, what's yours."_

_"I'm Jasper."_

"Yes, he definitely is handsome," I murmured under my breath.

"What was that?" Alice asked, looking at me curiously.

"Oh nothing." I laughed it off. "Never mind me, I sometimes talk to myself."

We continued on our way through the tour.

Finally, what felt like a lifetime later, it was time for us to go to the cafeteria. I was grateful to see through Beau's eyes that he was heading to the cafeteria as well.

The aide handed little red cards to each of us, explaining it was to get food for today, but that normally we'd use our student ID, which we'd get this afternoon after we registered for our classes.

I went through the cafeteria stopping at a station that was serving up Chinese food, getting a thing of Mongolian Beef and fried rice before continuing on and fixing a salad. Finally getting a Dr Pepper from the drink station and heading over to the cashier who took the red slip and waved me on.

Alice and Jasper were sitting at a round table near a corner with another man who had a head of the most gorgeous copper locks that I'd ever seen. His had a hard jaw and full lips, and I couldn't be sure, but I thought his eyes looked pitch black. In a word, he was  _wow_.

Alice spotted me then and waved her hand like mad, clearly wanting me to come sit with her. I nodded my head to show that I saw her, but didn't walk over there just yet. I was waiting on Beau.

As I was waiting, the man said something to Alice, but I wasn't sure what because his lips moved too fast for me to read them. It looked like the last word he said was 'human' though.

Beau stepped up to me, his tray had a thing of lasagna, some garlic toast and a salad of his own, along with a Mountain Dew and two slices of Boston Creme Pie on individual plates. He promptly deposited one of the two slices on my tray.

"Your welcome."

I smiled widely. "I met a friend, her name's Alice. She's over there." I pointed out the table where she sat. "She'd like for us to come sit with her and her man Jasper, who I noticed you met earlier."

At the table, all three of them looked at each other with strange glances for a moment. I couldn't help but wonder what it was about.

Beau smiled. "Sounds like a plan to me."

We headed in that direction and as we did the unknown third at the table stared at us with unfathomable eyes.

 _He's hot,_ Beau thought in my head.

_Yes, he is._

An image of me being screwed by this mysterious man and Beau at the same time filled my head, shoved there by Beau.  _Do you think he'd be amiable?_

I shrugged slightly, thinking back,  _I don't know._  Then I shoved an image back of being fucked by this mysterious stranger as Beau fucked him.

Beside me, Beau grinned.

We reached the table at last, sitting down. "My name's Bella, and this is Beau, may I ask your name?" I asked the stranger.

He took a breath and in that instant, everything changed. There was no terminology for what was in his eyes except unadulterated hatred. Not even a second passed before I heard a loud noise under the table. I wasn't sure, the tone was off for it to be a shoe hitting skin, and yet I was still relatively sure Alice had just kicked him in the knee.

He looked away. "Excuse me, I suddenly don't feel so well." His voice was even richer than Jasper's had been, and in spite of the genuine hatred I'd seen, the sound of his voice went straight to my loins. He got up, walking quickly away.

Jasper stood as well. "I'm going to make sure he gets safely to where he's going, then I'll be right back," he said softly, kissing the top of Alice's head and then following the stranger.

Alice grimaced in front of us. "I am so sorry about that. The one that just took off so rudely is my brother, Edward."

They looked nothing alike though, in spite of the matching pale skin. My surprise must have shown on my face.

"Not by blood of course, but we were both adopted by the same great couple, Carlisle and Esme. Carlisle's a doctor at the hospital, but he also teaches part time here. He's an amazing man to have for a father, you'd both like him. I'm sure. Esme works in architecture, refurbishing old homes. Her work is lovely. I'll have to show you sometime. Actually Jasper is a care of theirs as well. Along with two others who are sophomores here this year. Emmett and Rosalie. I'm sure you'll get to meet them once school officially starts." It didn't appear that she'd taken a breath the entire time she spoke.

I nodded, wide eyed.

In my head, I heard Beau think,  _Should we be afraid? I feel like we should be terrified. This lady is too... cheerful._

I suppressed the urge to grin.

As lunch passed and she prattle on about fashion and shoes and insisted that we should all go shopping together sometime, I thought back,  _Yes, terrified._

Beau didn't resist the grin that spread across his face.

It wasn't till lunch was over and everyone was heading to the field to go to one of several tables set up to register for classes that I realized Jasper had never returned to the cafeteria. In the din of stepping into one of lines, I lost track of Alice, but as I neared the table I spotted her in a different one with Jasper right in front of her.

 _Now remember, no Nuclear Engineering or anything like that. That type of class will be too demanding with you having to do football,_  I thought to Beau.

I could feel Beau's grin in my mind.  _Damn, and I totally wanted to sign up for that._

_Asshole._

I signed up for my classes, selecting the ones that would help me to major in literature as well as selecting the cores I was required. Beau stepped up after I was done, his hand quite deliberately hovering over an engineering class for a minute while I glowered at him from off to the side before he moved away from it, selecting a criminology and a psychology course along with the cores.

After that we headed to get our IDs, which required us to stand in front of an ugly green screen while they shot our pictures, and then wait while the cards were printed, then ran through a machine so money could be loaded on for food from the cafeteria, text books from the university store, coffees from the on campus spot, etc.

I put a significant amount of money on mine, trying to plan ahead so I wouldn't have to get it reloaded for the rest of the semester, at least, though they assured us all that we could always put more on by going to the administration building. Beau, being on a full ride scholarship, had an allotted amount already on the card. In theory. It was enough to get his text book needs and lunches for the year, but it didn't give any for extras, like coffee shop visits, or just buying normal items from the store. In spite of his protests, I stepped forward before he got out of line and had them load an extra grand on his card so he'd have money for that kind of stuff.

Finally, it was time to leave for the day.

I admit, we called a cab.

That night, after Beau fucked me senseless and we both fell asleep, we dreamed.

I couldn't tell which of us actually was causing the dream, if it was him or me, but I knew it was a dream that we were both seeing.

_The man, Edward, his eyes gold like Jasper's instead of the black they'd been today, had me pinned to the bed, his one hand interlaced with mine, his other pressing down in the center of my back, forcing the upper half of my body to bend almost unnaturally as he entered me with my ass high in the air._

_Above both of us was Beau, kissing his way down Edward's back, before his tongue ran over his puckering hole. Above me, Edward quivered even as his hips snapped forwards and backwards in a way that left me screaming his name in pleasure._

Suddenly I shot awake at the same time as Beau, gasping hard, sweat drenching both of our skins in a way that left little doubt of the effect the dream had on both of us.

Yes.

We both wanted Edward in our bed with us.


	2. Chapter 1 - Another Shade of Trust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer and I do not own the rights to the Twilight Saga, Life and Death, or any of the accouterments in the series.
> 
> AN: This chapter is relatively short, but like any story, some chapters are longer, some are shorter. Ultimately, it shows an important event, and it just felt like the best place to end it.

**Chapter 1 – Another Shade of Trust**

_Beau_

It had been three days since orientation, and tomorrow, Friday, was to be our first day of classes. I was dreading it, even if I was as curious to see Edward again. He had been an enigma in the night for both Bella and I.

But first, there were things we both needed to do, not the least of which was unpacking the fifteen boxes filled with my stuff that had arrived this very morning.

"Where's my truck?" I asked, staring at Bella. It should have arrived with my stuff. It had been shipped at the same time.

She was unpacking a box of my books, stacking them diligently on the floor since we didn't have a bookcase yet. It was on her post-it of things we had to buy.

She didn't answer immediately, and when she did, her voice was too casual. "Oh, I'm sure it will be here soon."

_What did you do?_

Her reply was instantaneous.  _Nothing._

I narrowed my eyes at her in pure suspicion, mentally poking her every other second.

A minute later she threw her hands up in the air, a copy of my book, Of Mice and Men, in her hand. "Fine, it's at an auto-garage getting an overhaul and a makeover."

My eyes widened – something between shock and horror going through my mind. "Why?"

"Beau, your truck is over fifty years old, and I know you love it... but if you want it to last another fifty, it's going to need the maintenance. Besides, rust isn't actually a color."

I muttered something unintelligible to myself thinking,  _Showing off her money, again._

"I heard that. And I have it, so I might as well use it. Anyways, it's money well spent. After all, it's the only vehicle we have currently."

"And what are we going to do about going places until it gets here?"

"Rent a vehicle."  _I figured we could rent one later today, after... if you still want to, that is_.

"You know I'm not one to change my mind." We were alike in that, stubborn to the point of blind stupidity, as my dad used to say.

"Good." She smiled.

"It's just too bad we don't know how to contact the two people we have so far met..."

"They have people there that can be our witnesses," she said in reply.

"I know, I just wish there would actually be someone with us." I didn't say it, but we both knew when I said someone, I meant her mom... who of everyone who'd ever met us, had always been the most supportive of our relationship. Unfortunately, her mom had died almost three years ago now.

"Well, we can always wait till we go back to Forks for either Christmas break or Spring break or something."

I thought of my dad's reaction and immediately rejected the idea. "It's better to ask forgiveness than permission."

She laughed before bending back over the box to get more books out. I watched, contemplating things that would probably get me in trouble in several of the fifty states.

Suddenly I heard in my mind,  _Stop staring at my ass and get unpacking._

I blinked then went back to the box I was working on which had most of my kitchen supplies. The service that Bella had hired to prepare the house for us to move in had already left a paltry selection of plates, cups, and silverware as well as a couple of pans, but they were all foreign to me and it was nice to have my own items back.

I did feel bad for taking the items from my dad's kitchen, right up until I remembered every time he'd tried to cook something as simple as spaghetti, or when he put chicken noodle soup – still in the can – in the microwave. I actually should have taken the microwave too, to guarantee he didn't blow up the kitchen. Besides, it wasn't like he didn't still have cooking utensils – I left the best skillet for him, as the only thing he could cook was eggs – just not the utensils I'd bought once I got old enough to have a job.

As I sorted out the items in the box I was working on, Bella moved onto my collection of DVDs and CDs, stacking them into individual stacks on the floor as well.

 _Maybe we should have bought the furniture first,_  I thought to her.

 _Where's the fun in that?_  She continued aloud, "We only move into our first house once. This is supposed to be part of it, learning from our mistakes so we don't make them when we finally decide to move elsewhere. We're not supposed to plan ahead this first time... and I already did some of that."

I thought of us moving in without the limited furnishings that had been here when we moved, imagining how much more difficult the last three days would have been on our love life without the furniture. I remembered one of the poses she'd held while I'd been pleasuring her with my tongue and imagined her trying to stay like that without the bed's help. I sent her the mental image.

_And that would be why I planned ahead. A little._

…

Two hours of sweat, followed by the world's most unsatisfying shower, and a taxi ride later and we were in the heart of downtown Ithaca – about three blocks away from our actual destination. In front of us was a small boutique – the likes of which I generally tried to avoid like the plague.

 _Do we have to?_  I visibly pouted.

"Come on, Beau. Just because we aren't being traditional doesn't mean we shouldn't make it memorable. You don't need a tux, just something new. Something that, if it's the only time you wear it, then you can keep it and someday show it to our children – if we ever have any. Or if it's something you wear from time to time, then it's something you'll remember this day by. What we're wearing now... there's nothing memorable here."

I rolled my eyes even though I got her point. Ripped jeans and tees weren't exactly the norm. Not even for a justice of the peace.

She pulled me through the doors of the store, knowing that she won. The boutique had far more clothes for women than it did men, but I still went dutifully through the clothes. When I'd fully decided it was all too fancy for my tastes, I mentally checked on Bella, who was looking at a rack of cocktail dresses. There was a range of colors from black to lime green to everything in between

Blue had always been her color as it matched her heart-breaker blue eyes, but she said she wanted today to be memorable, so I thought,  _The red dress._

 _Hey! No Peeking!_  She thought back. Then a moment later I heard, _The blue button down right in front of you and a pair of black jeans... tighter is better._

_If I can't cheat then you can't either._

But I was smiling because I knew she'd get the red dress. I reached forward and grabbed the shirt she'd thought to me to get, then walked down to the jeans to select a pair of black jeans.

She was waiting at the clerk when I brought them over, and she paid for it all with cash while I winced at the price.

"Now where are we going to change into these?" I asked when we got back outside and we started heading to our planned destination.

"Ye of little faith."

_Yes, yes I am._

"There are bathrooms just inside the building. We'll change there before we go to our appointment."

We continued our walk, heading the two blocks north, but just before we were going to turn right and walk the last half block to the Clerk's office, two people stepped right into our path, two people we'd been talking about earlier that day.

Alice and Jasper.

_Did you track them down when I wasn't paying attention?_

_No!_  Even if the adamancy in the word hadn't come through loud and clear, the shock I could feel couldn't be faked.

"Oh, Jasper, look who it is," Alice said, her voice surprised and excited all at once.

And yet... I didn't trust it, or Bella didn't trust it. I actually wasn't sure which of us was the suspicious one.

"I can see." Jasper's voice was amused.

"Bella, Beau, It's so nice to see you. I'm dragging Jasper along so I can do some retail therapy. He's an excellent bag carrier."

"That's about all I am on these types of trips," Jasper muttered just loud enough that it was easily heard.

Alice elbowed him in the gut.

"What are you two doing out here?"

 _Should we ask?_ I thought.

 _I see no reason not to. Even if we don't trust them happening to be here exactly when we were wanting them... Well we're freaks, maybe they are too. Who knows? Who are we to judge?_   _Besides, they're here now._

"We were just heading to the Tompkins County Clerk around the corner to be officially married."

Alice's brow furrowed. "Bella told me your engagement was relatively recent..."

"It is, I asked her the day we first met you. But Bella and I have known each other our whole lives, literally."

"He's right. Neither of us can really remember a time when we didn't know each other. When we didn't love each other in some form," Bella agreed. "We were going to just have some people in the Clerical office be our witnesses, but since you're here, would you two like to?"

"Hmmm," Jasper said, looking at Alice strangely.

"Sounds like fun," Alice said, bouncing slightly on her toes.

_She is –_

–  _far too energetic._

It only took a few minutes after that for us to make it to the Clerk's office at which point Bella shoved the bag of my clothes into my hands and practically pushed me into the men's bathroom before going into the one for the women, herself.

I changed into the clothes, carefully tucking the button down shirt in before looking at myself in the full length mirror that was attached to the wall. I had to admit, the clothes weren't bad on the eyes, but the three year old pair of sneakers I was wearing made the whole ensemble ridiculous.

When I got out of the bathroom to see Bella already standing next to Jasper and Alice, it wasn't the strapless red dress that ended just above her knees that I noticed immediately, it was the pair of chucks she was wearing that definitely didn't match.

She saw me looking at her feet. "Hey, you can't say it's not memorable."

I just shook my head, unable to say anything.

The journey to the small courtroom was a short one.

Once we were in the room, the judge checked over the Marriage License to make sure everything was official before preparing to read out the officiating vows, but Bella stopped her by asking if she could say her own vows.

"It's not traditional when you come to a justice, but you're the last people I'm seeing today, so go ahead."

"Thank you." Bella turned to me.

This was a surprise, she'd been hiding this plan from me. I  _hated_  surprises. I glowered at her slightly to show my unhappiness. She just smiled widely in response.

"Beaufort Geoffrey Swan, I've known and loved you my whole life. As a child, I knew you as the twin I never had, as we aged, I came to know you as my friend, my first crush and later my first love. I knew you yesterday, I know you today, and with any amount of grace I will continue to know you for many tomorrows to come. It is for this knowledge and this love that I wish to bind myself to you for every possible future smile, every future memory, and every future decision. It's for this love that I will still be there after our first argument and after our last. It's why I promise to always forgive you. I promise to love you even after heart-break. I promise to cherish, to protect, and to share everything with you evermore. I promise that you and I are one in this life, in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad. For all that we are, I promise that I will be with you through every tomorrow."

I swallowed. She'd come prepared for this, but I hadn't been, and even if I'd been able to maybe come up with something on the fly under a normal circumstance, this was no normal circumstance, and my mind was just blank.

Finally I managed to choke out, "What she said."

I was sure that the judge didn't mean to, but she still chuckled.

After that, we signed the paper with Alice and Jasper signing as witnesses.

When we were back on the street, Alice offered to take us to dinner.


	3. Chapter 2 - A World of Myths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer and I do not own the rights to the Twilight Saga, Life and Death, or any of the accouterments in the series.
> 
> AN: Just a reminder, this story is rated M.

**Chapter 2 – A World of Myths**

_Bella_

_I do not need to eat Italian_ , I complained in my head to Beau for the tenth time as we walked behind Alice and Jasper who'd said she knew just the place after asking us where we wanted to eat and Beau had said somewhere serving Italian. I knew he'd done it for me. He was perfectly happy eating hot wings and greasy fries.

 _You really want to get barbecue or Mexican or something?_ The sarcasm in his mental voice clear enough that I knew he already knew the answer was a no, even if I claimed yes.

I sighed, but continued following the over-exuberant pixie. Anyone who had a chance to meet Alice would know she was sweet as well as genuinely pure and lovable. But – and it was a big but – she was beyond exhausting. We'd probably only spent about an hour in her presence so far today and I already felt like going back home and curling up, spooned against Beau. Jasper seemed to be her opposite in every way, and if she wasn't so over-excited even now, I'd almost think he must bring her down to Earth, and that was why they were together.

After a few more minutes of walking we finally arrived at a little restaurant called  **ICO** , the word Italian was above the three letters on the the left side, and Carry Out was below on the right side. As we went inside, the place was very casual. There was a small bar set up serving beers and wine, but most of the restaurant were little square tables with rustic wooden chairs. Against one wall, there were a handful of booths. We seated ourselves at a small table that was near the back, the menus were in a small caddy on the table.

We each grabbed a menu to look at just as a waitress came over and took our drink orders.

After she left, I went through the menu and found eggplant parmesan in with the dinners. I mentally communicated my choice to Beau who responded by shoving an image in my head of him rolling his eyes at me.

Beau thought to me,  _Hey look, they do have buffalo wings!_

I stuck my tongue out at him.

It wasn't until then that I became aware that Alice and Jasper were probably paying more attention to us than the menus in front of them, because Jasper suddenly said, "Just what are you two?"

"What?" I asked, stunned.

There was the sound of something smacking together under the table. Jasper didn't turn away from us as he spoke to Alice – who must have kicked him. "No, Alice, they aren't human. They can't be. You know what Edward said – you know what your own senses tell you. And in the limited amount of time I've been in their presence today, I have literally felt their emotionsbeing shared from one to the other. It doesn't make sense."

Alice let out an exasperated sigh.

Beau and I shared a look.

_What the hell does he mean? Not human?_

_No clue. I mean I know that there are legends of mythological beasts in La Push, but that's all they are._

_Mom used to always claim that the house she grew up in was haunted but..._

_Your mom was the definition of insane, Bells. Give her a science fiction book talking about leprechauns in little spaceships and she'd swear by the end of a day that it was a hundred percent fact. We both know it._

_She wasn't that bad... well dad kept her from reading that kind of stuff to keep her from getting that bad._

_My point exactly._

"We're human. I assure you. I was born to Charlie and Marie Swan on September 13, 1987, and she was born to Phil and Renee Dwyer on the same day," Beau said softly.

"But it brings up an excellent question. What are you? Since you started it." I looked at them intently.

Jasper opened his mouth but Alice elbowed him in the gut, hard, and he let out an uncomfortable oof.

"We're human too," she said. "At least technically." She made a put upon sigh. "It's a philosophical question more than anything else. You see, I'm clairvoyant and Jasper here is an empath... So since we can do stuff that no normal human can, are we really human?"

"And Edward?" I asked.

"He's... I suppose you could say telepathic, but since it's only one way – listening not speaking – one might say it's teleaudient. His gift is imperfect though, for example, he couldn't read your thoughts. I'm relatively sure it shocked him which was why he left so abruptly at lunch on Monday," Alice explained.

_He's like us?_

_Not exactly though._ I thought back.

Alice and Jasper were looking at us expectantly.

I grimaced. "I guess we share what some people call twin telepathy, even though we aren't related by blood. Our mothers were best of friends growing up and we happened to be born at the same time on the same day so we've always felt a sort of deep connection with each other." I shrugged.

The waitress came back with the drinks then, setting them down before asking if we were ready to order. Beau ordered his wings as well as the lasagna and I ordered my eggplant parmesan. While Alice ordered a medium cheese pizza with breadsticks for her and Jasper to share.

The instant the waitress left, Alice leaned over to Jasper and whispered something quickly in his ear that we couldn't hear. Her lips moved to fast for me to follow.

He grimaced.

Her voice was the tiniest bit louder as she whispered fiercely, "It's your own fault."

Beau and I shared another look.

_They are..._

_...very strange_

After the food arrived we all ate in silence – the quiet at the table stiflingly awkward.

…

"We're going to need the truck," I said to Beau as we stood in the rental lot.

He kept looking at a Toyota Corolla and I kept grabbing his shoulders and turning him to face the black Ford F350.

"But it's so... big... and modern." He sounded horrified.

I snickered. "Do you think that little Toyota is going to fit bookshelves and other furniture we need. Including a TV?" It was relatively big, it wasn't – technically – a monster truck, but it was close.

He scowled.

"Don't pout. I'll get the paperwork done."

I headed into the building and talked with the clerk, who didn't want to rent the vehicle to me – being only eighteen years old – until I pulled out my black label credit card.

By the time I came out of the building Beau was leaning against the truck while holding his sides as he tried to resist laughing.

"What?" I growled in irritation.

He smirked and replayed the scene in my head that he'd apparently watched.

_I glared at the clerk whose name was Timothy per his name tag. "Can I talk to your manager?"_

" _Miss, policy is policy, it doesn't matter who you talk to," he stated calmly._

_I pulled my wallet out and slammed my card down on the counter. "Are you certain about that?"_

_The clerk's eyes widened as he took in the shiny card. "One moment, Ma'am, I'll get the papers started right away, Ma'am." He was practically stuttering in his hurry to get the words out._

Beau couldn't hold his amusement back any longer and burst into laughter.

I glowered at him before stomping over to the driver's side and climbed in. "Get in, chuckles."

I drove us to a furniture store heading south out of town so we could get the furniture we needed for the house. We shopped together for the different items we needed, getting two book shelves and a stand-up cd rack. Then we got a few small end tables and a tv and stand and checked out.

I let him drive us home, which when we got there, we took the furniture inside and left it all sitting unorganized in the living room before we headed to the bedroom.

I closed the door and then stepped over to him and his arms came around me, pulling me close and holding me there. My eyes shut of their own accord, as I rested my head against his chest. He rested his chin on top of my head.

 _Come on, let's go to bed_ , he thought to me.

I pulled back enough to rip his shirt off over his head and then stepped back even further and stripped to bare skin. It wasn't a strip tease, but Beau stared appreciatively anyways before he pulled off his own clothes as well.

We laid in the bed together, him curled around me protectively, our hands holding each others'. As we fell asleep, we dreamt of our past. The first one could have been either his or mine.

_The fake IDs Renee had provided us had gotten us into the late night coffee bar that did ad-lib poetry readings. The fact that we'd snuck out of the house to get here was to be expected. I think my mother's exact words had been, "You're going to do it anyways." She'd always been like that though._

_Phil was less accepting of our teenage rebellion and attitude and had tried to insist we sleep in different rooms now that we were fifteen, claiming a boy and a girl sharing a room wasn't acceptable at our age. He'd held out two days before he'd given in and allowed Beau to sleep in my room again. It was hard to do anything else when I'd refused to eat, drink or sleep for that first forty-eight hours after Beau had arrived. I'd gotten my stubborn streak from mom, so he really should have just given in before it even started._

_We sat at a table for awhile, watching different people step up and read out different poems, many of them were dark and mysterious, more still were erotic and scandalous. Every once and awhile Beau's eyes would track to the back of the coffee shop where a section was free of tables and some people were dancing to the music that seemed to set the mood for the poems being read off._

_I knew that Beau liked to dance, but if it wasn't ballet... it wasn't really my thing. At least it wasn't while songs like Bodies, Pony, and Erotica were playing. In fact it wasn't until the dance version of Sweet Dreams came on that I got up and pulled Beau back to the little dance floor._

_The music was louder on the dance floor than in the front of the shop and a small part of me wondered how they pulled that off, I didn't waste much time on the thought though as I swayed my hips against his until he got into the swing of it and started dancing with me._

_The song changed to some euro-pop tune that I didn't know, but I stayed dancing with him anyways, just enjoying letting loose. At some point, as the song changed a couple more times, I spun a little ways away from him, mixing the slightest bit of my classical training with the modern bump and grind style of dance – just showing off as I danced by myself.  
_

_When I turned to face him a few minutes later, one of the people on the dance floor had come over to him. The woman had soft red-brown locks that went half way down her back and wore a black shirt that was thin enough it left nothing to the imagination and a short skirt. I was honest enough with myself to admit she was hot, but I was surprised to see their lips locked in a dirty kiss._

_Beau pulled back half a minute later, his eyes immediately flashing to me. The guilt on his face was so hard to deal with that I immediately stepped up to the woman I didn't know and locked lips with her in a kiss of my own. I noted, briefly, that her eyes were bright green, before my eyes found Beau's as he stood behind her. I backed her up against him spinning around to grind my ass against her front._

_Her hands on my hips weren't as nice as his, but they weren't bad either._

_I couldn't tell which of us said yes as the stranger asked us to go back to her room with us, but the small hands running over my body and pinching my nipples after we got there, as well as the lips – too soft to belong to a man – at my junction were sensations I'd never forget._

I rolled so I was facing Beau, still mostly asleep, but waking just enough to pull me away from one of the most erotic weekends of my life. When I fell back asleep again, the dream – the memory – I was seeing was definitely mine, and it wasn't a pleasant one.

_My parents had only been dead for three weeks, and I had begged for the state court to emancipate me, but it had fallen through. In spite of the fact that my child ballet career that had starred me in five major musicals, two movies and several music videos and left my gross value in the high seven figures, in spite of the fact that I had an IQ of 144, and in spite of the fact that I had my driver's license already... the judge had ruled that I was to remain as a ward of the state until I was eighteen._

_The first house I was moved into was a rich couple by the names of Benjamin and Virginia Garfunkel. They had one son, who was already twenty-two and living in the pool house out back. They're son's name was Royal King Garfunkel. Benjamin and Virginia were perfectly gracious while the social worker had been there, but the instant she was gone they'd explained that I was nothing more than a tax write off and that I was to share the pool house with their son and not complain about my accommodations._

_Royal wasn't bad when I first went in the pool house, but as I chatted with him I'd noticed a dark glint in his eyes, and as evening had set in he'd slowly moved closer to me until his hand went around my throat._

Beau's arms tightening around pulled me away from the memories I kept buried in the deepest recesses of my mind. I'd only been with the Garfunkels for six months, and the truth was that their son had never actually raped me as we'd reached a mutual agreement but those first few nights had been terrifying until I'd gotten used to him. The next dream – memory really – I was pulled into was Beau's.

_Beau stepped into the small bedroom behind Jacob and Julie, he still wasn't sure he should be with them. They were younger than him and were still finding each other, and to some extent he felt guilty intruding in their early budding relationship._

_The thing was, jerking himself off only got him so far and he missed the touch of another. It had been just over a year since he'd seen me and though Charlie had tried to work with the foster family caring for me at the time so he could have gone to see me over the summer, the family I was with wouldn't hear it. As it had been pointed out, we weren't actually family._

_He'd have been more comfortable dating Jessica Stanley at school to take care of his physical needs until he could see me, the real love of his life again, but I hated Jessica, so he wasn't going to touch her. I had actually been more comfortable with the idea of him having a relationship that actually meant something than one that was nothing more than sex. It was ironic, because he'd preferred it the other way when it came to me. But that was why he was here, because though he wasn't sure what – exactly – he felt for them... he did know they meant something more than an easy lay._

_Julie noticed his hesitation and reached out, taking his hand and pulling him forward to her bed. Her lips pressed against his as she laid him back on the bed._

I woke with a gasp, then glanced at the clock and groaned because I knew we'd have to get up and go to school.

…

When we reached the school, we went to our separate classes – on opposite ends of campus.

My first class was English Literature 110. The professor's name was Carine Smith. She introduced herself as Ms. Smith, telling everyone that the first person to call her Mrs or Ma'am would be failed unless they were lucky enough to do it during drop week and then they might be able to save their face and go take English 100 with the other kids too stupid to understand basic literacy. I had to admit, I liked her attitude. The class for the day itself was dull, though I kept basic bulleted notes on her first day lecture.

After that I went to Analytic Geometry and Calculus I 261. As I sat down towards the back of class, I happened to notice a big guy come in and sit down towards the front, he was big enough to be a football linebacker with ease – but the thing that caught my eyes about him, were the eyes that were the same gold color as Alice and Jasper. The teacher of the class was named Leland Cull.

As I metaphorically dozed in class I checked in on Beau in the class who was currently taking. Criminology 220. He was more enraptured with his teacher's blatherings than I was in mine – even so his eyes wandered over to the copper haired Edward sitting three rows in front of him every few minutes.

Once class was over, I headed to Classical Mythology 121. Beau only had two classes this morning and one this afternoon, but I had a total of four with three during the morning. Every desk in the class had a piece of paper on it. I sat down at one close to the door. The class was close to completely full, in fact there was only one seat open – the one next to me – when Edward came in.

He flinched when he saw me, his lip raising slightly. But then he visibly calmed as stepped over and took his seat beside, even though it looked forced.

The professor stepped up to the board and wrote his name out on the the board.  **Lanc** **í** **a Draconus.**  The man had to be almost six and a half feet tall, and he had hair that fell all the way down his back. It was tied together in a ponytail with an extra band placed about every four inches as it fell down his back. The last band was about two inches above the end of his hair.

When he turned to face us, he was hot and he lookedAsian in his features, in spite of his height. The thing was, he couldn't have been Asian, because his skin was pale white – the whitest I'd ever seen. I wasn't a hundred percent certain as I was too far away, but I thought his eyes might have been a light gray, practically silver.

"My name is Doctor Draconus, and I am not one to mess around, so if you think this will be an easy three credits then I have another thing coming for you. On each of your desks is a paper with a name of a Deity from Greek, Roman, Celtic or Norse mythology. If you are planning on staying in this class, then I will expect a ten page essay on my desk from you on Monday. If that sounds like too much work, then you know where the administrative building is. I suggest you use it to drop this class." His voice was like burning embers in my ears and I actually grimaced, but many of the other female students leaned closer to him in their desks as he spoke.

As he gave his speech of the day, I flipped my paper over. The name on it was Bacchus.

…

When class was over and I walked outside, I suddenly had a cold hand on my wrist. I turned to look.

"It's Bella, right?" Edward's muted velvet voice asked.

"Yes," I agreed.

"Would you follow me?" he murmured.

I nodded without consciously agreeing, following him as he turned and walked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Next chapter is going to be Edward's POV … yes, I'm evil. I know.
> 
> Reviews are, as always, loved.


	4. Chapter 3 - The Mystery of Unicorns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer and I do not own the rights to the Twilight Saga, Life and Death, or any of the accouterments in the series.
> 
> AN: Quick notice here, I won't normally rewrite scenes already shown through someone else's perspective, but for this chapter here, Edward needs to start from the beginning, so to speak. There's many reasons for this, but one of the big ones is that while Bella and Beau already suspect the Cullens aren't human, they're never (or at least not for a long time) going to truly find out that the Cullens are vampires. Also, I'm trying to keep Edward as close to Twilight Edward as possible, but he may be a little ooc.

**Chapter 3 – The Mystery of Unicorns**

_Edward_

Alice was excited to be starting college – she claimed that this year was going to be special, she just  _knew it_  – but when I'd goaded her into revealing what she meant, the truth had been that she didn't know anything of the sort. Instead she just had a  _feeling_ , like she was Jasper or something. It was ridiculous.

And I  _wasn't_  in a good mood.

I didn't need to go to orientation, there was nothing that a tour guide could tell me about Cornell University that I didn't already know. Just like there wasn't a subject I could take that I wasn't already familiar with.

We'd already been in Ithaca for four  _long_ years, and at this point I was almost wanting Jasper or Emmett to slip up so we could move on already. I knew how bad that sounded, but I was bored – and the truth was... I was bored with more than just this town. Still, I tried to keep everything carefully concealed, as the last thing I wanted for my parents to realize was just how tired of this non-life I really was.

I knew they all liked it here, that the weather was cloudy often enough that we could go outside in the day without raising any suspicion; that there was the world of fashion at Alice's finger tips, cars of all designs at Rosalie's, the enriched studies that Jasper liked to take so much, a well staffed hospital with high tech for Carlisle, beautiful old houses for Esme to work on, and sports galore for Emmett to enjoy... There was  _something_  that just brought out a spark in each one of my family members in this town and this state. Everyone except me, that was.

And I knew, because I could read all of their thoughts, that Jasper could feel my ever growing discontent, and Alice sometimes would get a vision of me leaving my family. Just as I knew Carlisle and Esme had both caught onto how tired I was of just  _existing._ Even Rosalie and Emmett had noticed to some extent. All, in spite of my best efforts to hide it. But, even though they all  _knew_ , they all ignored. It was easier, even in a family with no secrets, to pretend that we were all content and happy in our existence.

We all did it though. Alice pretended she didn't care about the human past she couldn't remember, Rosalie pretended she didn't hate being a vampire, Jasper pretended he wasn't riddled with personal guilt... I could go on. Because unfortunately, unlike everyone else, I  _knew_  all their secrets.

Just like I knew the thoughts that both Carlisle and Esme tried to hide from me about how I'd possibly been too young for the change... too young to ever find love.

Suddenly Alice's cheerful voice shouted from the floor below, "Come on Edward. We're going to be late if we don't get going."

I sighed but smiled slightly in spite of myself. It was  _difficult_  to not be infected by Alice's cheerful attitude.

I headed downstairs and outside, going to where my metallic black Lexus LS 460 was parked in the open shed where we kept the frequent driver vehicles – meaning Carlisle's Mercedes, Rosalie's BMW, and my Lexus. The Lexus was a new vehicle. In fact, my silver Volvo was parked in the garage out back along with the rest of our vehicles. I still wasn't sure about the Lexus, not that it wasn't a nice vehicle – it was – it just wasn't the Volvo.

Jasper was already in the back seat as I got in the driver's side. Alice slid into the passenger seat faster than I could blink, singing the most horrible show tune I'd ever heard in her head. I arched an eyebrow at her.

"It doesn't concern you, Edward." She stuck her tongue out at me.

I rolled my eyes but started the car and pulled out.

…

All three of us got separated into different groups at school. Alice grimaced painfully as Jasper was placed in a group other than one of ours, worried the way she normally was about Jasper's control. He'd hunted last night though, at Alice's insistence, so he was fine. Of the three of us, I'd actually gone the longest without a meal, but going two weeks was easy for me – the thirst was always there anyways, ever present, but I could ignore it.

Still, I kept track of Jasper's thoughts as he went in a different direction than me. Jasper fell in step with a tall boy who kept trying to evade him, obviously not enjoying the attention. I chuckled under my breath when the boy turned on Jasper and demanded to know what his problem was. I tensed slightly as he explained to the boy that he preferred the emotions he was buzzing with, but I breathed a sigh of relief when the boy shrugged off his words.

The boy, Beau, talked with Jasper for a little while after that. It was strange though – I couldn't get a read on Beau at all. If I couldn't see, thanks to Jasper's thoughts, that he was talking to someone, I would swear Jasper was talking to thin air. It was disconcerting... so I decided to tune it out as I continued on my way with the boring tour.

At some point during the tour, the guide for the group I was with pointed out a small path between two buildings. He said that the door on the side of the one building led down into the tunnels, explaining how it was locked so people couldn't get lost – I could hear in his mind that people had disappeared down there before – but that if anyone was interested than tours were usually done around Halloween. I didn't know why, but it was the most interesting piece of information from the entire tour.

The rest of the tour was exceedingly dull and when they finally reached the lunch hall I headed away to find a table without bothering to get any food. I could get away with it on a college campus easier than when we'd been in high school as lots of people didn't bother to eat college lunches.

Alice bounced up to me only a couple of minutes, sitting down beside me. She was still singing the same show tune in her head that she'd been this morning.

"Seriously, Alice, can't you stop that already," I grumbled under my breath.

She flashed me an evil smile and switched to singing some song that I was relatively sure was by a boy band Disney had made popular late the year before.

I shook my head, giving up trying to get her to be nice.

Jasper sat down next to Alice, kissing her briefly on the cheek making her smile blindingly at him for a brief moment before she looked out towards the crowd of humans getting food. She waved excitedly at someone suddenly, beckoning the person over.

I followed her eyes to see a girl standing with a tray of food. She nodded her head at Alice before biting her lip and glancing to the side. The girl – obviously human – had a heart shaped face with deep blue eyes and long brown hair.

"What game are you playing at, Alice? She's human," I hissed quietly.

"She's my friend, or she's  _going_ to be. You won't ruin it for me." Alice stuck her tongue out at me petulantly.

I glanced back at the girl just as the boy, Beau – the one that Jasper had been talking to earlier – stepped up beside her.

He deposited something on the girl's tray before saying, "You're welcome."

Even though there was a decent distance between us and them, it was only too easy to hear his words. I focused, trying to get a read on his thoughts now that I'd heard his voice for myself, but there was nothing. If it weren't for the fact that I could see him standing  _right there_ , I'd believe no one was there at all.

Next to him, the girl was different, because for half a moment I could swear I heard a soft feminine voice thinking,  _I love Boston Creme –_  and then, just like the boy beside her, she wasn't there.

I frowned, trying to concentrate on just her, because I was certain I had heard her.

The girl smiled widely at Beau. "I met a friend, her name's Alice. She's over there." She pointed towards our table. "She'd like for us to come sit with her and her man, Jasper, who I noticed you met earlier."

We'd all heard what she just said, and I turned to stare at Alice in suspicion. Jasper, on the other hand, looked at me.

 _How does she know I met Beau already, Edward?_ Jasper asked in his mind.

Alice's mental shielding finally dropped enough for me to hear.  _How does she know that?_ She stared back at me then, wanting an answer.

I gave one quick jerk of my head to tell them both that I didn't know.

I'd assumed that they were human – they  _looked_ human – but perhaps they were something else... something other. It would hardly be the first time we'd met beings that weren't human. There'd been the Quileute shifters back in the late thirties, the werewolf we'd ran across in the sixties, and I knew Carlisle had met a few witches in the late seventeen hundreds – real witches with actual powers, not the normal humans who claimed to be witches but had no magic whatsoever.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Beau replied.

I stared at the two of them, narrowing my eyes slightly as they walked closer. Willing myself to hear  _something_  from either of them, but there was nothing. They just weren't there.

Beau glanced at the girl briefly and she shrugged as if responding to him.

I ground my teeth together because, though they were obviously communicating in some way, they hadn't said  _anything_.

When they reached our table, they both sat down.

"My name's Bella, and this is Beau, may I ask your name?" the girl asked, looking at me.

I finally had her name, Bella. They're names meant beautiful and handsome in French. There was something strange about that. Were they siblings, or what?

I took a breath to reply, and in that instant all I knew was the smell of citrus, honey and lilac. It wasn't just one of them either, it was both of them. They smelled identical – which was impossible. It was the sweetest scent I'd ever smelled. I wanted to kill them both and I  _hated_  them for the fact that they  _existed_ , that they were  _here_ , tempting  _me_. And in that instant... I knew they both were going to die.

Then Alice kicked me in the shin hard as she shouted in her head at me,  _Try it and I'll take your head off right here._

Her mental screech, accompanied with the vision of her doing just that – apparently what she'd been hiding from me all day – stopped me more than the kick did.

I glanced at Alice in aggravation for a mere moment before looking towards a wall. "Excuse me, I suddenly don't feel so well," I said it softly, but loud enough that I was certain the two  _humanoids_ could hear me, before I got up and walked away from the table as quickly as I dared.

"I'm going to make sure he gets safely to where he's going, then I'll be right back," Jasper said back at the table, but I didn't turn to look. I just hurried as quickly as I dared to get out of the lunch room.

I was almost at the door when I heard Alice say contritely to Bella and Beau, "I am so sorry about that. The one that just took off so rudely is my brother, Edward."

Then I was out of the cafeteria, and though I could have continued listening if I really wanted to, I didn't. I just wanted to get away from the two demons that had been sent straight from hell to torture me.

Jasper caught up with me as I was stalking toward the car.

"Edward, what's going on? I've never felt that type of blood lust...  _from you_."

The last part sounded like some sort of accusation. "I don't know, but I know I can't run across those two again. I'll kill them both if I do." I snarled the words, my aggravation being directed at my brother.

"Why?"

"Because  _they_  smell good – better than any human I've ever smelled. They smell the same too. Are they siblings, do you know?" It could explain why they might smell similar, at the very least, but it wouldn't explain how they smelled the same. Every human's scent was unique – even identical twins smelled different, and on the off chance they actually were twins, there was no way they could be identical.

"No, they're in a relationship, engaged actually... they definitely aren't related." Jasper's brow furrowed, and I could see him comparing the scents of the two of them in his head. They didn't smell the same way to him that they did me, but he agreed that they both smelled identical. "Maybe they  _aren't_  human."

"What else could they be, Jasper? They may not smell to you as they do me, but they still smell like food. You can't deny that."

He grimaced, but didn't reply to my words otherwise.

I sighed. "Go back to Alice. I'll wait here at the car for you two to get done."

…

The drive home after they got to the car was completely silent. I could see in Alice's mind that she'd signed me up for a random grouping of classes – including Classical Mythology 121.  _Maybe you can find a myth that fits them in that class_ , she thought at me as her reasoning. Apparently she came to her own conclusion that they couldn't be human.

I wasn't sure it was a good idea for me to stay at the school though – not if I could end up risking their lives by doing it. Even if they weren't  _human_ , there was no proof that they were anything other than innocent.

In spite of keeping a careful eye on Alice's thoughts, I had no forewarning as we walked into the house and she said cheerfully, "I've met two friends. And Edward wants to eat them."

I turned to stare at Alice in complete shock.

"What?" Carlisle asked, coming out of his study. I could hear him asking in my mind what she meant by that.

I grimaced. "They smell good – really good – better than humans should. They also smell identical to each other."

Carlisle's brow furrowed. "That... isn't possible."

I agreed with his assessment in regards to that and yet... "Impossible or not. It's true."

"Explain."

Alice decided to talk then. "He's right they do smell the same. Their names are Beau and Bella. I actually only knew I was going to be meeting Bella." She frowned thoughtfully. "I knew – sort of – that there was someone else. But I only saw myself meeting Bella. I still can't see Beau in my visions, actually. Though he's obviously there."

I watched a vision of Bella laughing at something in a bedroom. The bedroom had a large bed with black satin sheets and Bella was sitting on it. She was wearing a thin pink spaghetti strap top and boy shorts. But what was strange about the vision was the staticky space next to her.

I heard Jasper as he wondered to himself,  _A doppleanger then?_

"Assuming dopplegangers even exist, they'd look the same," I said. "Why can't you see him, Alice?"

"I don't know. I mean when we ran across that werewolf in the sixties I couldn't see him... but if I tried my visions went completely black. This is different. It's like he's right  _there_ , just out of sight, but I can't get a lock on him for some reason." She shrugged. "Maybe he has an early developing gift. I don't know."

"They smelled identical to you as well, Jasper?" Carlisle asked, pulling us back onto topic.

"Yes, though they just smelled like normal humans to me, not extremely good the way they did for Edward."

"That doesn't make sense," Carlisle muttered going through his memories to see if he ever met two people who smelled identical and coming up with nil. He then remembered his time with the Volturi, locking on one myth that Aro had shared with him: " _Our legends have it that unicorns supposedly all smelled identical and were extremely sweet. Of course, in more than three thousand years I've never run across even one, so I'd call it more of a folk tale than anything else._ "

"Unicorns are equine in nature. We're talking about two... if not human, than humanoid, at the very least."

"I wasn't saying that's what they were, but I can't help my thoughts. It's the only thing I know of that can even remotely fit what you're describing."

"Maybe they're something we've never heard of before," Alice said, crossing her arms over her chest. "And I don't care what they are, either way. They're my friends, and they're eventually going to be important to other people in this family."

She was singing that show tune in her head again.

"What do you mean by that, Alice?"

She shook her head, singing even louder in her head.

"Does it have to do with me?"

In spite of her best efforts, I saw two quick flashes in her head. The first was of me grinning in a wide smile with Bella – smiling back – and the static standing in front of me. The flash disappeared quicker than I fully had time to comprehend. The second was the one that truly floored me though.

" _It's my first time here, is it yours?" Bella asked._

" _No, I've been here before," Rosalie muttered._

_They were standing behind a guard rail at the top of the largest waterfall in the United States._

" _Rose, Beau and I have agreed not to ask what your family is though we know you aren't human... I'm actually relatively sure you aren't even mortal. The names, the way I've caught all of you talking at one time or another, even the way all of you act... I'd guess none of you are under a hundred years old. Beau and I have approximately fifty or sixty year that we'll get to be together – and as we're both mortal, one of us could potentially die at any time, we may not even get that long – and we can still be happy. You potentially have an eternity with a man that obviously loves you. So why do you choose to be bitter?"_

_Rosalie opened her mouth to reply –_

Alice started singing 99 Bottles of Beer in her head, cutting me off from the vision. "Alice,  _what_  does that mean?"

"It means they're going to be important to more than just you or me. She's going to have a huge affect on all of us."

…

Over the next few days, we discussed them both at length. The more we discussed them though, the more I wanted to find out their secrets – needed to even. Still, I was torn... at least until Carlisle suggested that maybe we should move on before I harmed them.

It wasn't hearing Alice's despair or Rosalie's rage at the idea of being uprooted – again – that made me argue to stay though. In truth, I simply now had something to prove.

I would not be driven out of the town we'd made our home for the last four years because of two  _mortals._ I still didn't believe they were human – even after Alice and Jasper "bumped" into them on Thursday and they'd sworn they were human. I also refused to call them unicorns the way Carlisle sometimes thought of them when he thought I wasn't paying attention.

So on Friday I drove all of us to school and went to my first course of Japanese 111... I was relatively certain Alice was laughing about putting me into this course as she knew I already knew Japanese.

Once the class was over I spent the next hour and a half waiting for Mythology to start, but Emmett pulled me aside just as I started to head to it.

"Alice caught up with me on her way to her art course. She said she saw Bella in your next class so maybe you shouldn't go to it."

"She's the one that signed me up for it in the first place. She can't have it both ways. Besides, I'll be fine... I'll just sit somewhere that isn't close to the girl." It was easier than calling her Bella, calling either of them by their name humanized them in my mind and I honestly wasn't sure I wanted that.

Emmett frowned but then shrugged and walked off. He was actually the least concerned of the family about what might possibly happen. He figured I'd either kill them and we'd move on or I wouldn't and we'd stay. He didn't see what the big deal was, either way. It was just that simple in his mind.

I put my head down as I went the rest of the way to my class. As I walked in to the classroom the smell hit me immediately. Only one row from the door was the girl, sitting right next to the aisle. The world's quickest glance around the room told me there was no other open seat for me except the one right next to her.

I flinched at the idea of sitting beside her, but I had no choice. So I forced myself to relax and moved forward. I walked around her desk and took my seat in the one to her left. I tried to see if I could read her thoughts, but she once again just wasn't there.

After taking one quick breath and being hit by the instant pain and desire her smell caused me I decided that I wouldn't breath during class.

It worked for all of about two minutes, because – as I prepared to sit like a statue for the length of the class – the professor came out of the back room and walked to the chalk board, writing his name on it.  **Lanc** **í** **a Draconus.** The man writing on the chalk board was tall, taller than Emmett or Jasper – both of whom were taller than Carlisle and myself. He had long gray hair that fell all the way down his back in a long ponytail. After he got done writing out his name, he turned to face the class. He had thin lips and a sharp, angular nose with slanted eyes. His eyes were silver, not gray or some sort of white from a pigmentation disease, but  _silver_. Then there was his skin as a whole. He was deathly white – as in whiter than even a vampire's skin. I'd never seen anyone like him, but it was immediately clear that, whatever he was, he definitely wasn't human.

I took a breath, trying to find an unfamiliar scent amidst all the humans in the room. Unfortunately, what hit me was the scent of the girl next to me – and even though I'd hunted religiously the night before to prepare myself on the off chance that I ran into one of them again, I now knew it was all for naught. She was going to die. I didn't care what Alice had predicted, what Jasper had sworn, or what Rosalie had threatened – she had made it clear she'd destroy my Aston Martin Vanquish if something I did uprooted them... the girl's blood was worth it, Alice and Jasper would get over it, and I could always get a new car.

Suddenly, the professor's voice – sounding roughly like sandpaper in my ears – spoke up. "My name is Doctor Draconus, and I am not one to mess around, so if you think this will be an easy three credits than I have another thing coming for you. On each of your desks is a paper with a name of a Deity from Greek, Roman, Celtic or Norse mythology. If you are planning on staying in this class, than I will expect a ten page essay on my desk from you on Monday. If that sounds like too much work than you know where the administrative building is. I suggest you use it to drop this class."

His voice, acidic in a way I didn't understand, cleared my mind enough to stop me from doing something foolish while I was in a class with well over a hundred students.

I flipped over the paper to see which god or goddess I'd been given, discovering Aite on it. She was a more obscure goddess, but I recognized her easily enough. The goddess of mischief, and exiled daughter of Eris and Zeus.

It kept my interest for all of ten seconds, and then I was back to planning the death of the girl sitting beside me.

I'd wait till the end of class and get her alone. I even knew the perfect place to take her.

…

I allowed the girl to walk out of the class in front of me, then reached out and grabbed her wrist gently – knowing even as I did it that I  _could_  let her leave, probably even should.

She turned to look at me and she appeared shocked when she recognized me. Yes... I was relatively certain I hadn't made a very good impression as of yet. If she survived this – not that there was any chance of that – then the fact that I was planning to kill her definitely wouldn't improve her opinion of me.

"It's Bella, right?" I asked softly, keeping my voice muted as I looked at her in a way that I knew made humans believe whatever they were told. Unlike most of the rest of my family, the four years in the late twenties that I'd spent hunting down and killing criminals had taught me how to use the visual and audio skills that our kind have, because there had been times when I'd needed to lure  _my prey_ away from unwanted eyes... As was the case now.

"Yes," she replied, not blinking, her eyes transfixed by mine.

"Would you follow me?" I murmured, making my voice even more persuasive.

Her breath hitched and then she nodded.

I quickly turned, walking towards the small path that had been pointed out by the guide back on Monday. It would be easy for me to take her into the tunnels – no lock on a simple door would stop me – and then no one would hear her if she did come to her senses and decided to scream before I killed her.

I could hear her following me so I didn't bother to turn around and check.

It wasn't until we were both halfway down the small pathway that I heard the sound of footsteps pounding headed straight toward this location.

I spun to check who was coming this way, taking a step forward so I could grab the girl if I needed to.

When  _the boy_  rounded the corner though, my eyes widened in shock.

"Bella, step back!" he shouted, the words echoing off the walls on either side of us.

In front of me, Bella blinked widely then stepped backwards suddenly.


	5. Chapter 4 - Forever Nevermore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer and I do not own the rights to the Twilight Saga, Life and Death, or any of the accouterments in the series.

**Chapter 4 – Forever Nevermore**

_Beau_

I was being lazy on the quad when I first felt something similar to fear, except it was fear that was extremely dull as if it was some sort of delayed sound through an echo chamber. Most important of all though, it wasn't  _my_  fear. It was Bella's and it felt  _very wrong_.

I closed my eyes – something I didn't normally have to do – as I focused on looking through Bella's eyes.

She was following behind the enigma that was Edward Cullen, but even her vision felt hazy to me as if she was in some sort of fog.

Had he  _drugged_  her?

_Bella! Bella, snap the fuck out of it._

There was no response to my mental shout at her.

I got up and started to run, using my connection to her as a homing beacon to find her.

I was sure I looked insane as I ran through the quad with my eyes closed, but it was easier to focus with my eyes shut and I didn't honestly care what the other people thought of me.

I ran towards a small walkway that was set between two of the buildings on campus as Bella followed him down it.

I saw through Bella's eyes as Edward spun around and stepped back towards her, and then my eyes snapped open as I rounded the corner and glared directly at Edward.

"Bella, step back!" As loud as my shout was in person, the reiteration I shouted in my head at her was even louder.

I felt it as my words broke through whatever haze she was in, felt the sudden punch of sheer terror that swept through her just as she stepped back.

I didn't stop my run until I pushed myself in front of Bella.

"I don't know what you fucking are, nor do I care. You come near  _my_  Bella again I will find a way to kill you." I did know one thing, whatever he was, he wasn't human.

Edward looked behind him toward the other end of the walkway just as Alice skidded around the corner with a big guy directly on her heels who I'd never seen before.

"Emmett get our brother out of here, please," Alice said as she glared angrily at Edward.

The big guy – Emmett, I presumed – came forward and put himself between us and Edward. He was both tall and broad enough that I couldn't see what he was doing, but it was relatively clear he wasn't being gentle as he pushed Edward away from us.

Once he got Edward around the corner Alice came forward.

"Stay away from us," I snarled angrily before she was even halfway to us.

"I'm sorry, Beau. I didn't foresee him doing this, if I'd known he was going to, I would have stopped it. I swear."

"Just what was he going to do?"

Bella still hadn't spoken, her fear was still overwhelming me in my mind and I wanted to get her away from whatever the hell they were, get her away from the school, and get her away from all of it. I wasn't about to turn my back on her or any of them ever again though.

Alice seemed to look right through me for a moment. "I'd normally spout a lie here and even though I can't see  _you_ , I can see her, so I know you two aren't going to go for the lie. He'd have probably killed her." She shrugged. "Unless I'd seen it in time, then I might have saved her life... even if I didn't save her mortality."

"Just  _what_ are you?" I carefully reach my arm behind me, wrapping it around Bella as she leaned against my back.

"I..." Alice hesitated for a moment, her eyes once again seeming to see something else. "Don't think you really want the answer to that question. We're something other, something that's not human... something that isn't you either."

_Step backwards, Bella_

She followed my simple mental instructions, backing up. I stepped backwards with her. "Bella and I are going to leave now. If you even contemplate following us I will find someway to kill or maim or destroy you. I swear it on everything that I am."

Alice took one step forward and then stopped when I narrowed my eyes at her. She raised her hands in a show of surrender. "He won't try anything ever again, I promise, Beau. Just... don't write us completely out of your lives yet. You're going to want us in it eventually."

I stopped. "Your clairvoyancy?"

Alice nodded. "Someday he's going to love you two and someday both of you are going to love our family. I  _know_  it, even though I can only  _see_ it with her."

My brow furrowed in confusion as Bella stepped around me. "What does it mean that you can only see me?" Her voice was shaky as she spoke.

"I'm not certain, but my guess is that he's something  _other_ , something that isn't human and isn't my kind. I've never been able to see beings that fall into  _other_. I'm just not sure what type of other he is."

"What? I'm completely human," I said, my voice shocked.

"I believe that... with regards to her." Alice nodded her head at Bella. "You on the other hand... I'm not sure what you are. Maybe you were bitten by a radioactive spider as a baby for all I know."

"Comic books?" I arched an eyebrow at her

"Look, I've only met my kind and one other creature. I've actually only ever known of about four or maybe five supernatural species. You aren't any of them... All I know is what you're not and I know you aren't human. Reality is that myths, fiction and fantasy are often times based in reality so as far as I know radioactive spiders do exist."

"But he'll live. It's not because he's going to die that you can't see him?" Bella took a step forward as she squared her shoulders.

I immediately reached forward and grabbed her around her waist, pulling her back against me.

_Don't go near her. I've already almost lost you once today. That's enough._

I felt as Bella closed her eyes.

"No, he's there in our future... I just can't quite get a read on him to see him, but I can see where his figure is. Bella... Beau, I know what happened scared both of you, I can't blame you for that but please understand that he won't do it again. He's having a bit of issue with his control at the moment, but that will change. Trust me when I say that once he finds himself he's never going to want to hurt either of you."

"I think the real question which we need an answer to is if he will hurt us?" I stared at Alice angrily.

"I can't see everything... so I don't know for sure." She looked past Bella and directly at me. "But there will be at least some dark times in the future. He'll make those dark times better though."

"I don't know what you do or you don't see but what I do know is the fact that we're not going to have anything to do with  _any_ of you ever again," Bella said angrily.

"I..." Alice trailed off as she looked through us both. "Can see that you aren't ready to hear this. I'm sorry." She bowed her head and stepped backwards.

…

"Are you hungry?" I asked softly after we got back home, already trying to figure out what I could make that wouldn't bother her.

Bella shook her head. "I don't think I could eat even if I wanted to."

"Okay, let's go to bed then... after we take a bath."

I took her hand and pulled her towards our bedroom and through to our bathroom. The bathroom had a whirlpool tub with six jets sunk into the ground along with a giant shower with multiple shower jets. The bathroom had been one of the largest things that had convinced Bella to buy the house after I'd looked at it when I'd come to visit Cornell back in the spring with my dad.

I stepped over to the tub and turned it on before opening the cabinet in the bathroom to look through the different things that we'd put in there. Shampoos, perfumes, lotions, body washes, bath salts, bubble bath, bath bombs...

"Which bath bomb do you want, Bella? The mermaid tail, the heart, the giant black ball, or the unicorn?"

Bella didn't respond so I glanced over my shoulder at her. It was as clear as day that she wasn't here with me at the moment.

"Yeah, you're right... the mermaid tail looks like the best option," I finally said as if she actually responded to my question.

I unwrapped the bath bomb and dropped it in the water of the filling tub before I stepped back over to Bella and grabbed the hem of her shirt.

 _Raise your arms_.

She did as I ordered in her mind and I pulled her shirt off.

"What are they, Beau?"

"I don't know, but we'll find out... right along with figuring out what the fuck I am, apparently." Alice's words had disturbed me more than I'd let on when she'd said them, because if I wasn't human than I couldn't help but wonder what the hell I really was.

"Beau, don't let her words get to you. You're as human as me." Bella leaned forward and kissed me gently on the lips.

I closed my eyes, kissing her back even as I reached behind her back and unsnapped her bra. As Bella's bra fell to the floor, I felt her hands searching to pull my shirt off, but I evaded her by breaking the sweet kiss and dropping to my knees. It put me eye level with her sweet spot but that wasn't what we were in the bathroom for... maybe it was something for later.

I unsnapped the button on her jeans and dragged the zipper down before slowly rolling her jeans down... jeans that were apparently painted to her skin.

_Skinny jeans, really?_

_What can I say, skinnier is better._

The quip, so similar to the one she'd thought to me on our wedding day, made me smile as I finished rolling her jeans down and then slowly undid the knots in her chucks. I instructed her to mentally lift her feet one at a time as I pulled her shoes off as well as her socks and her jeans.

"You missed something," she murmured.

I grinned and kissed over her panties before pulling them down and proceeding to help her step out of them.

"You're still fully clothed," she groused after I helped her into the tub.

 _It's alright_ , I thought as I headed back to the cabinet and pulled out Bella's favorite shampoo. It was one that smelled like strawberries and came in a champagne shaped bottle.

I came back over to the edge of the tub, sitting down near the edge.

 _Get undressed and get in here with me,_ she thought as she scowled at me.

I grinned and shook my head before putting my hand on her head and shoving her underwater.

She came up spluttering a moment later. "Hey!"

I poured some of the shampoo into my hands, completely ignoring her indignation, and started to rub it into her hair.

I was able to get away with it for about three minutes before Bella grabbed my wrists and yanked me into the water with her – head first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Short chapter, I know, and I'm sorry for that. Unfortunately, it's a necessary stopping point for several reasons. Next chapter will be their birthday and likely answer several questions.


	6. Chapter 5 - September 13th

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer and I do not own the rights to the Twilight Saga, Life and Death, or any of the accouterments in the series.
> 
> AN: The opening to this chapter is a little... different, but is necessary for the story.

**Chapter 5 – September 13th**

_1987_

_Years before, back in the early seventies when Marie had been just a young child, she'd been abused by her father – before her mother had gotten away from her abusive husband and moved to California. After they moved to California, Marie met Renee when she was only six years old. Her days were filled with happiness, cheer, and family. Even though it wasn't a family founded by blood. The abuse that occurred to her when she'd been but a young child quickly became nothing more than a distant nightmare._

_It wasn't until much later, late 1986 to be exact, when it became an issue for her. Because in late 1986, she got pregnant to a man. She learned about her pregnancy mid February of 1987. Upon her discovery, she had her first ultrasound. The thing was, her pregnancy was ectopic. Due to the abuse she had suffered as a young child, her uterus had severe scar tissue, and the egg attached to the only spot it could, at the top of the uterus in the outer wall. It was an interstitial pregnancy._

_Her doctor had encouraged an abortion stating the likelihood of either her or the child surviving was almost none, but Marie knew she'd probably never get pregnant again and though it had never been something she'd even thought about before discovering she was pregnant, she wanted the child. She wanted to share a life and a family with the man she'd fallen head over heels for._

_She told Charlie about her pregnancy but not about the dangers surrounding it, and only a few short days later they were married at a justice of the peace. Over the seven months that followed Marie called and spoke with her best friend Renee regularly. Renee was also pregnant, but her pregnancy was much more normal. They were both due on September twenty-second, but in an effort to make both Marie's and her son's chance of survival more likely, the doctors had scheduled a c-section for her on September fifteenth._

_But her pregnancy had plans of it's own and her water broke in the early hours of the morning on September thirteenth as she went into labor. After she got to the hospital, an emergency c-section could have still been done, but she appeared to be dilating normally and so she decided to go through the labor and birthing the normal way. It took almost twelve hours before she managed to contact her best friend only to discover Renee had apparently gone into labor at the same time as her._

_Over the next hour of labor, Renee and Marie kept the line of communication open between the two via a conference call option on the hospital phones. Renee's daughter was born a healthy six pounds, eleven ounces at three fifty two post merdiem mountain standard time, while in Washington at the same exact time, Marie's son was born. Unlike Renee's daughter, Marie's precious Beau was stillborn._

_The doctors, uncertain how long he'd been deceased, worked to revive him. Through the phone Renee could hear Marie begging the doctors to save her son and Renee, knowing Marie would likely never be able to have another child, did the most selfless thing she'd ever done in her life. She sent up a silent prayer to whoever was listening to take her daughter's life and save Marie's son instead._

_Something, somewhere, heard her plea and answered. And so a mere ten seconds later, Beau made a small cry as Renee's daughter stopped breathing. Unlike with Beau though, it took no divine intervention for her little girl to be revived._

_Beau, weighing in at only four pound three ounces was rushed away to ICU upon being revived and Marie, who unbeknownst to the doctors had ruptured an artery internally late in the labor, never got to hold her son before she died._

_2006_

_Bella_

Three weeks. It had been three long and very disturbing weeks since Edward had decided to... I still wasn't sure what to call it. By his sister's own admission, he probably would have killed me if Beau hadn't showed up and pulled me back from whatever kind of edge I had been on.

Beau had wanted us to drop out after everything was said and done, but I wasn't about to be cowed by some freak. So we continued to go to school, ate outside and away from the Cullens, and I immediately moved up to the front of Doctor Draconus's class. I hated being that close to the teacher who made my skin crawl, but I figured he was safer than the freak.

Today was Wednesday which meant another day in Doctor Draconus's class, as mythology was three days a week. It was also the day for Modern History, a class which was three hours long and only happened one day every week. Another words, it was my single longest class every week.

While I was doing an overloaded semester with nineteen credit hours, Beau was signed up for a measly thirteen credit hours. Of course, he also got a credit for the Sprint Football he was in. At least he did as long as he kept his grades up.

I knew we had another day of classes to go to at the school but I didn't want to do anything so I closed my eyes and laid back against the pillow of our bed again.

Generally we woke at the same time, but today I rose earlier than Beau because of dreams that often plagued me which still didn't make sense. For as long as I could remember I'd been plagued with dreams of darkness, swooping wings, words in a language unlike any I'd ever heard before and the sudden cold feeling of death. It was the only thing I hid from my Beau, because I knew it would concern him.

I was the daughter of Renee – the flighty and loving woman who would believe things like aliens and fairies actually existed just by reading the most fantastical of fictions – but it was Beau who tended to believe in things like myths more than me. And if I ever admitted I dreamed about shadows and death than I knew he would certainly claim I was predicting my own death. It was all bullshit though, it was just a nightmare – a recurring one, but still it was nothing more than that. So I locked it away in the recesses of my mind where not even Beau's telepathy and empathic abilities could get to it. And though I hated it, hated keeping anything from him, I supposed that any healthy relationship had some hidden skeletons.

Of course... most healthy relationships didn't share a psychic connection like ours. In fact, neither Beau nor I had ever met anyone even remotely like us. We were the only two who shared everything from thoughts to emotions to sights and sounds to even our dreams.

And before we'd met the Cullens I'd always convinced myself that we were just humans with deeper access to our brain than most – as was the typical belief with anyone who had psychic abilities. But now I couldn't help but wonder if perhaps we weren't  _both_  something far different than human. And if so, how was that even possible? Renee and Phil had been human. Marie had been human. Charlie was  _definitely_  human. So how could Beau and I be anything  _but_  human?

I reached up and felt the tips of my ears almost subconsciously, but they were as smooth and round as they always were. Even though I'd never been one to put any faith in myth and fiction, I still  _knew_  all of it, so I was familiar with stories of beings like darklings and changelings, but neither Beau nor I had anything such as wings, tipped ears, pointed noses, sharp teeth, or anything else which would mark us as have being born as some species of fair folk.

Beau and I could scream "bippity boppity boo" until we were blue in the face and we still wouldn't have whatever we secretly wished for. Even the idea of one of us being the angel and the other being a demon – as the myth of every angel having a dark twin, such as Michael and Lucifer, Gabriel and Abaddon, Rafael and Azrael, or Uriel and Azazel – would be impossible for us to be, because we weren't  _actually_  twins.

It left the questions of the who and what we were swimming in my mind with no firm answer to give.

_You're thinking too much. Go back to sleep._

The mental grumble in my head – not  _mine_ , but Beau's – made me stop my internal musing as I curled up against him, resting my head on his chest.

…

When I woke up again, Beau was no longer in bed with me. Instead he was in our bathroom standing in front of the sink staring at the mirror – ass naked, I might add. I could tell because he'd left the bathroom door open so I could see him. I could also hear him.

"I was wondering if you wanted to play hooky today?" Beau asked his reflection in the mirror and then shook his head. "No, that isn't right. She'll think I'm being strange if I  _ask_  it. I need to be more assertive." He gripped the sink as he leaned in closer to the mirror. "We  _will_ play hooky today." He nodded his head in a self-assured macho play that made me want to laugh.

He had to know  _demanding me_  to do anything would just end in us both not getting  _anything_  we wanted for days. I bit my lip to keep from saying or doing anything to make him realize I was being a voyeur and watching his naked ass.

"But that comes off all pigheaded and shit. Dammit! I just want us to spend the first birthday we've actually been  _together_ for having fun and  _being together_. Not fucking figuring out why black powder leaves a fucking residue on fingers or whatever the hell else my criminology class is going to be talking about today."

I couldn't help it, I threw my head back against the pillow and laughed. I was too busy laughing to see it, but I felt Beau's eyes on me when he turned to stare at me.

I finally turned my head to stare at him, instantly appreciating the front view as much as I had the back. "What happened to ' _you can afford to miss things but I can't because I'm here on a scholarship?'_ " I asked teasingly in a very poor imitation of his voice.

"Clearly I hadn't realized how dull college could be."

Even if I couldn't hear his thoughts and sense his emotions I'd know  _that_ was a lie. I frowned at him, sobering completely.

He looked away, sighing. "Fine, I wasn't expecting that we'd have to deal with freaks we can't trust and shouldn't want. But we both seem to have a hard-on for... mine more literal than yours."

"Maybe the psychic is right... Maybe he was just having a bad day or whatever."

"Bella, we don't even know  _what_ they are!"

"The fact that they are a  _what_  and not a  _who_  means we need to accept the reality that we don't know what we are even," I pointed out.

"You mean what  _I am_ ," he grumbled

"No, I mean what both of us are. We read each other's thoughts, see through each other's eyes, sense each other's emotions. It's not a one way street here. Therefore it's both of us."

"Not according to the psychic. And if we're putting credence into the other things she said than we need to put credence into that as well."

"I'm... not discrediting anything she said. But look at them. It's obvious that their whole family are the same creature.  _Whatever_  that creature is. Dryad or possibly elf being my own personal guesses given the amber eye colors, pale skin, and practically flawless features. And yet  _only_  Alice is clairvoyant,  _only_ Jasper is empathic, and  _only_ Edward is telepathic. So maybe like them you have something  _more_  than what I have." I wasn't a hundred percent sure he understood everything I was saying, my words had sounded convoluted in my own ears even.

"Maybe, or maybe she's just insane and that brother of hers is genuinely sociopathic." He crossed his arms over his chest.

I snorted. "I admit, I tend to go for that type, but you certainly never have. Well... There  _was_  Jessica. But if you'd touched the skank in our three year separation than I'd have castrated you. Jacob and Julie were a healthy relationship for you."

Beau's nose flared and I instantly felt his censure over my casual comment towards myself. "Your relationship with Royal was a necessity. You had no choice."

"I did though and we both know it."

"There was no choice!"  _I'd have gone out of my mind if you'd been raped_ , he finished his thought in my mind.

I flinched. I could have handled it, I was sure, but the idea of him being unfortunately privy to it and knowing how helpless it would have made him feel... I shook my head.

"What are we going to ever do if the other of us is ever hurt?" I finally asked, my voice so soft that if we didn't share our extremely special connection, I knew he wouldn't hear my question.

"Don't go there," he ground out as he stormed out of the bathroom heading towards me.

But... I couldn't help it, because the truth was neither of us had ever so much as had a cold. I couldn't remember ever having a single paper cut or scraped knee, and I knew, purely by coincidence, that I had the antibodies for chickenpox even though only Beau had ever had the vaccine. It was small details that – before meeting the freaks – I'd always been able to ignore as being strange misnomers and nothing more, but I no longer could. The truth was, I strongly suspected that if one of us died it would kill us both. Which once again brought forth the question of what the fuck we were.

Beau straddled me on the bed. "I want us to go out. Find someone hot to bring home for a night of fun. I don't care who. I want us to forget about Edward and the rest of them. I want us to not worry about school, about my dad, or about anything else. At least for one damn day."

I smirked. "You do realize we are seriously co-dependent, right?"

He leaned forward, kissing me soundly.  _And you love it._

I knotted my hand in his hair.  _I do._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So a bit of a long end note here. What are they? Really? It's sort of your interpretation. But the inspiration behind them is one of the oldest and most common folktales in the world. Throughout mythology, fables, myths, etc there are myths of a parent or a village elder giving up their life, their very soul even, so that a young child with no will of it's own could survive. Working from that idea, what if the life that was give was another child instead? If Bella's soul was used to revive Beau, than is she the spirit-self (or shadow-self) or is he? So there's some open ended interpretation here, but you can decide whichever way you wish. I will say this, that though they share a spirit, they are both in fact human in one way at least – wherein they both bleed, age, and can potentially die.


End file.
